Suggested tune: KOMMT HER ZU MIR
Verzage nicht du Häuflein klein. [In Trouble.] Concerning the authorship of this hymn there are three main theories—i. that it is by Gustavus Adolphus; ii. that the ideas are his and the diction that of his chaplain, Dr. Jacob Fabricius; and iii. that it is by Altenburg.
This hymn has ever been a favourite in Germany, was sung in the house of P. J. Spener every Sunday afternoon, and of late years has been greatly used at meetings of the Gustavus Adolphus Union—-an association for the help of Protestant Churches in Roman Catholic countries. In translations it has passed into many English and American collections.
Translations in common use:—
1. Fear not, 0 little flock, the foe. A good translation from the text of 1638, omitting stanza iv., by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 1855, p. 17. Included, in England in Kennedy, 1863, Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1871, Free Church Hymn Book, 1882, and others; and in America in the Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858, Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868, Hymns of the Church, 1869, Baptist Hymn Book, 1871, Hymns and Songs of Praise, 1874, and many others.
2. Be not dismay'd, thou little flock. A good translation of stanzas i.-iii. of the 1638 text in Mrs. Charles's V. of Christian Life in Song , 1858, p. 248. She translated from the Swedish, which, in the Swensha Psalmsboken, Carlstadt, N.D. (1866), is given as No. 378, "Förfaras ej, du lilla hop!" and marked Gustaf H. Adolf. Her version is No. 204 in Wilson's Service of Praise, 1865.
3. Thou little flock, be not afraid. A translation of stanzas i.-iii. from the 1638 text, by M. Loy, in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880, No. 197.
Other translations are all from the text of 1638.
(1.) "Be not dishearten'd, little flock," by Dr. H. Mills, 1856, p. 121. (2.) "Despond not, little band, although," by Dr. G. Walker, 1860, p. 41. (3.) "Be not dismay'd, thou little flock, Nor," by E. Massie, 1866, p. 143. (4.) "0 little flock, be not afraid," in J. D. Burns's Memoir and Remains, 1869. p. 226. [Rev. James Mearns, M. A..]
-- Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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